Private Samuel Fulcher Davies
3 November 1915
Hedge Row Trench Cemetery, Belgium
(P. Ferguson image, September 2017)
Private Samuel Fulcher Davies
825
8th Battalion East Kent Regiment (The Buffs)
In Loving Memory of My Dear Husband He Gave All for Our Freedom reads the inscription on the marker of Samuel Davies, aged 40, killed in action 3 November 1915. His wife, left to mourn, was Emma Elizabeth Davies, London. His late father’s name, C.J. Davies, is also recorded in the Graves Register. The 8th Battalion East Kent Regiment was raised at Canterbury in September 1914 and arrived in France in August 1915 serving during the Battle of Loos when the regiment went into action 26 September 1915.
Davies did not join the battalion in France until 7 October 1915 and was lost within a month of his arrival being commemorated on Special Memorial E.5 at Hedge Row Trench Cemetery, Belgium where 95 others are buried. The cemetery, started in March 1915, was no longer used after July 1917. Due to the continuation of the war the cemetery, also known at times as Ravine Wood Cemetery, suffered extreme damage from shellfire. Following the end of the war the position of many previously known graves, including Samuel Davies, could not be established and special memorial markers to the fallen were installed inscribed at the top Known to Be Buried In This Cemetery. Several markers are set in a circular pattern around the Cross of Sacrifice. Nearby cemeteries include First DCLI* Cemetery, The Bluff (63 graves) and Woods Cemetery (294 graves).
Families of British soldiers who died during the war were required to pay for any lettered inscription to be recorded on a headstone. The maximum number of letters being 66 at a cost of 3.5 pence per letter. One headstone, located 15.1 Km distant at Poelcapelle British Cemetery, features musical notation rather than lettering.
This Day
3 November 1915
246 Fatalities
Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission
*Duke of Connaught’s Light Infantry.
Tags: 3 November 1915, 8th Battalion East Kent Regiment (The Buffs), Commonwealth War Graves Commission, First D.C.L.I. Cemetery (The Bluff), Headstone Inscriptions, Hedge Row Trench Cemetery, Inscription Cost, Known to Be Buried In This Cemetery, Ravine Wood Cemetery, Samuel Fulcher Davies, Wood Cemetery
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About The Author
Paul has worked with the Paradigm Motion Picture Company since 2009 as producer, historian and research specialist. Paul first met Casey and Ian WIlliams of Paradigm in April 2007 at Ieper (Ypres), Belgium when ceremonies were being held for the re-dedication of the Vimy Memorial, France.
Paul's sensitivity to film was developed at an early age seeing his first films at RCAF Zweibrucken, Germany and Sardinia. Paul returned to Canada in 1967 and was captivated by David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Bridge on the River Kwai". Over time Paul became increasingly interested in storytelling, content development, character, direction, cinematography, narration and soundtracks.
At the University of Victoria, Paul studied and compared Japanese and Australian film and became interested in Australian film maker Peter Weir and his film "Gallipoli" (1981). Paul was inspired when he learned Weir visited the beaches, ridges and ravines of the peninsula. "Gallipoli", the film, led Paul on many journeys to sites of conflict in England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Malta, Hawaii, Gallipoli, North Macedonia and Salonika.
When Paul first watched documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, "The Civil War", Paul understood how his own experience and insight could be effective and perhaps influential in film-making. Combining his knowledge of Museums and Archives, exhibitions and idea strategies with his film interests was a natural progression.
Paul thinks like a film-maker. His passion for history and storytelling brings to Paradigm an eye (and ear) to the keen and sensitive interests of; content development, the understanding of successful and relational use of collections, imagery and voice. Like Paul's favorite actor, Peter O'Toole, Paul believes in the adage “To deepen not broaden.”
While on this path Paul always remembers his grandmother whose father did not return from the Great War and how his loss shaped her life and how her experience continues to guide him.
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